Power Outage
by JateSkateFate815
Summary: A storm during a late night at Mode causes a blackout, leaving Daniel and Betty stranded in the dark until morning. DxB
1. Chapter 1

**Power Outage**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Ugly Betty.**

**Author's Note: This is a story that I plan on continuing if anyone wants me to. I already have some ideas for it. It's going to be a short story, though. **

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Late nights were fun.

Well, they were when you had a boss like Daniel Meade. If she had any boss other than Daniel Meade then she probably wouldn't have lasted this long at Mode. And if she had lasted this long, then she probably wouldn't be working late with him right now. A low rumble was an indication that a thunderstorm was approaching, and Betty slightly shifted in her seat as she typed away.

She and Daniel were the only people in the office… and so they should be, it was almost eleven-thirty at night. She'd been receiving constant phone calls from her father, Hilda, and Justin begging her to come home. They knew about her and her fear of thunderstorms. But she had Daniel there to protect her if anything went wrong.

Betty laughed at that thought. _It sounds like I'm falling for my boss. _She looked up as she saw Daniel walking out of his office over to her desk. "You should go home now," was what the tired, raspy voice said. Every time her phone ring he would either look up at her, telling her to go home or he would come over and verbally tell her.

"I'm not leaving you here alone, Daniel," She responded, not looking up from her work. She didn't want to leave him alone, but at the same time, she didn't want to drive home in a thunderstorm. "I already told my family that I'm staying here."

"Well, there's a storm a brewing." Nothing seemed to change Betty's mind. He didn't want her to leave, but he wanted her to get home before anything major started. But this time, Betty just looked up at him confused. "That's what the weather guy said," he smiled sheepishly.

"Uh huh. Daniel, it's fine. I'm not leaving you." And that was the end of it. Giving him a look that said, "and that's final," she turned back to her computer. When Daniel muttered "whatever" and went back to his office, she let a small smile creep across her face. She knew he would be back the next time her phone rang.

Suddenly, the smallest rain drops pattered against the roof causing both Betty and Daniel's eyes to wander around the room. The light rain turned to pouring in less than ten seconds, and with a flash of lighting, the storm began. She saw colored lights flashing from Daniel's television screen. From what she could hear, she could tell that he was watching the weather channel so she quietly left her desk to join him.

"…_The storm shouldn't be severe. We predict that it will only last for a couple of minutes." _

But when were the weathermen ever right?

_Never. Hardly ever._

With the rain beating against the roof, and the constant flashes of lightning, and the loud rumbling of thunder, Betty couldn't help think of the nightmare that she had had the night before. It was silly for a twenty-four year old to have some sort of nightmare like this, but she had it. The nightmare started with her working late with Daniel. Then a rainstorm turned into a thunderstorm, and a thunderstorm turned into a power outage. But that wasn't that part that frightened her.

"Betty, you okay?" He asked as he sat on the corner of his desk. He noticed that her face was paler than before, and that's when he realized that she was afraid of thunderstorms.

"Yeah, Daniel, I'm fine," she gave him a half-hearted smile. She didn't want him to press the issue any further. Betty looked at the phone she was holding in her hands. A call was coming in and it was Hilda… _of course _it was Hilda.

Daniel chuckled quietly when he saw Betty roll her eyes. "Hello?" There was so much static on the line that she could barely hear Hilda on the other end. "Hilda, speak louder, I can't hear you."

"Come home already!" Betty held the phone away from her ear, and Daniel winced in sympathy.

"I'm not driving home in the rain. Bye, Hilda." The beeping on her cell phone was a sign of a low battery.

But being Hilda, she knew that wasn't the only reason why she was staying at Mode. "Just ask Daniel to marry you already, Betty!" _Oh my God, Hilda. _She seriously hoped Daniel hadn't heard that little tidbit of the conversation. "Bye."

It didn't seem like Daniel had heard that part of the conversation. She didn't know how he couldn't have. _Hilda talks louder than any normal person should. _"You're afraid of thunderstorms aren't you, Betty?" He questioned as he waited for her to answer on her own time.

On cue, four more rumbles went off along with a couple more lighting flashes.

The lights flickered on and off for a while before finally returning to normal. "Yes," she was able to squeak out. He nodded and told her to come closer as he held out his arm. Something about him holding her, made her feel so safe. The loudest roar of thunder came before more lighting.

One more flash, and the power went out entirely. All at once. From what they could see out of the window, no lights were on except for the headlights from cars driving by. "Terrific," Betty mumbled as she stood up from Daniel's desk.

For a while, no more cars came by and the only source of light was the terrifying lighting. Betty was once again reminded of her dream. Coincidence? She didn't think so. A premonition was more what she was thinking. Except she didn't think this was going to turn out how her dream ended. She hoped.

Daniel began walking around the office feeling for a match or a light or anything. _No generators, that's just great. _He thought. He remembered that Betty would be more afraid now, then she was before since the power was out. The idea came into his mind that he shouldn't have felt so comfortable holding Betty in his arms like that. He was her boss and there were sexual harassment laws. And another part of him told him that he shouldn't ignore his feelings. So naturally he'd listen to that side.

"Betty?" He slowly walked along so he wouldn't walk into anything that decided to step in front of him. Human or not human. But walking slowly didn't help. "Ow," Betty yelped. He still walked into Betty. Betty reached down for his hand and grabbed onto it.

"Betty?"

"Yeah?" Her voice was wavering in fear. This was _too _much like her dream.

"That's not my _hand_."

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**It's kind of Betty centered right now, but next chapter, I'm going to balance it out. Should I continue this?**


	2. Chapter 2

**Power Outage: Chapter 2**

**Thanks for the reviews/alerts/favorites everyone! And the reviews made me laugh lol. Sorry this took so long! I had writers' block so this is probably terrible. And forget what I said about balancing the Betty-centricness lol!! And I might not continue this if this chapter is bad. Thank you othspnluver for helping me!! **

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"Oh."

It was bad enough for Betty being in the dark. But sitting in the dark in silence was even worse for her. "I thought it was your hand," she had muttered when she let go quickly. She was utterly and completely mortified. It was by far the most embarrassing moment of her life. She was glad they were in the dark so Daniel couldn't see how red her face was.

Both of their faces, burning together in the dark silence. It was definitely awkward… more uncomfortable for Betty though. Daniel was trying to make her feel better and at ease by saying this like "it's okay," "it's fine," and "it happens all the time." The last one wasn't probably too good to mention because it sent Betty's mind wandering in confusion and the jealous rage that resembled a mind of a psychopath. _Like that's gonna make me feel better. _To Daniel, he had some of the best luck in the world. Being stuck in the dark with Betty was something that he could only dream about. He chuckled softly to himself. He never thought that _this _would happen.

Betty on the other hand, was convinced that she had the worst luck. Yeah, of course she had dreamed about this happening, but then to have it ruined by touching Daniel's… she couldn't believe that happened. But Daniel had been very understanding about it. They _were _in the dark after all. She wanted him to say something… anything. Embarrassing herself in front of Daniel Meade, was basically the worst thing she could do that night. She was willing to bet that Hilda would drag it out of her when she got home. The silence was bad enough for her… and then Daniel started laughing.

_Laughing_. He was _laughing_.

_Uncontrollably. _

It apparently wasn't as awkward for him as it was for her. "It's smaller than my hand, Betty," his husky voice told her before he cleared his throat from laughing so much.

"Well, how would I know? I've never seen it." She could feel her face start to cool down and she slowly walked around the office, but she realized what she said when Daniel stopped laughing, and her face heated right back up again. "Where are you, Daniel?"

Daniel was trying to find Betty too before the next rumble happened. "I'm over here. Ow!" Betty heard Daniel hit something, and then fall to the ground.

"Daniel, are you okay?" She asked as she got down on the floor and crawled over to where she thought the glass door was. Daniel groaned as he slowly sat up from the floor. He was glad that they were in the dark. At least Betty hadn't seen him fall. "Let me help you up," she whispered into his ear. The dark made them both unaware of their closeness. She felt all over for his hand, unaware of what else she had been doing. "Betty," Daniel was able to choke out.

When she felt his fingers, she laced hers in between his and pulled him up from the ground. When lighting flashed repeatedly, they were able to see each other's faces. They stood up staring into each other's eyes with the light flashing.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four. Four times. The lighting flashed four times with Betty jumping every through every flash. "So I guess the emergency lights aren't working… we should find something to uh… see with," Daniel muttered as he led her over to his desk. He felt the drawers for handles, trying to ignore the sensations that he was feeling throughout his body. Oh what Betty does to him.

"What should I be feeling…" she heard Daniel snicker. "Looking for?" She wished the lights were on so she could glare into his blue eyes. He definitely deserved a glare for that.

"I don't know… a flashlight. Matches."

"You keep a flashlight in your desk?" She asked sardonically with a smile on her face that Daniel could practically hear. The mocking tone in her voice was not subtle.

_"No_… I _think_ I got something." Daniel felt around in his desk. _What is this?… What happened to all the stuff in my desk? _He felt around further back, and he felt what seemed to be a matchbook. _Oh this is going to be easy. _"I found matches, Betty," he said. "I'm going to wait for some lighting before uh… I light it."

He pulled a match out of the matchbook, and prepared to light it. A lighting flash went off, and he lit the match. Everything else was pitch black except for the small flame. "Ow! That's hot!" He yelled as he threw the match onto the floor.

"Daniel!" Betty exclaimed. Daniel was definitely not stupid… far from stupid, but sometimes he had a complete lack of common sense. Even though the situation wasn't funny, she still began to laugh. "Daniel," she was able to get out bursts of between laughter. "Put it out!"

The flame started rising before he started stomping on the flame to put the fire out. The room smelled of smoke, and it wasn't a very appealing smell.

"Uh… Betty?"

"Daniel?"

"That was the last match."

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**I know that the emergency lights should come on, generators etc, but for the purpose of the story, if I continue, I'm not going to have them come on. Please tell me what you thought! **


	3. Chapter 3

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Power Outage: Chapter 3

**I'm so sorry this took so long! Thanks again to everyone who reviewed, alerted, and favorited this! **

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"The last match?" Betty asked quietly with some franticness on the edge of her voice. If the lights were on, Daniel would be able to see her eyes frozen in place, staring out the window into the dark night.

If he had been with anyone else, Daniel probably would be laughing. But for anyone else, this probably wouldn't be a big deal. The rain started to pick up again, beating on the roof. "Yeah, that was the last match."

"Ooh! I know!" Betty screamed as she stepped forward to where she last saw Daniel. She grabbed his _hand _this time, and led him through the darkness. "I should have a flashlight in my desk."

Daniel squinted in confusion. "If I had a flashlight in my desk, you would be mocking me."

"Yeah, but I wouldn't expect you to have one in your desk." Surprisingly they glided through the office missing the glass door although Betty fell when they got to her desk. An invisible force helped Daniel help Betty up off of the floor almost instantly and effortlessly.

Daniel couldn't see anything, but he heard Betty opening her drawers, and he saw a flash of light on the ceiling. Betty shined the flashlight on Daniel's face causing him to squint again. "How long have you had that in there?" Daniel asked, covering his eyes from the brightness of the light.

"Oh, umm… just since I came back to Mode."

Daniel was somewhat disappointed. Now that they had light, there was no way that they could "accidentally" hold hands without the possibility of it becoming awkward for them. Betty was too busy searching through her desk to notice Daniel being unproductive.

"I had a dream about you, Daniel," Betty admitted, as she picked herself up off of the floor. Betty shut her mouth almost as soon as she said it. She did _not _know what could have possessed her to tell him that. Especially when she made it sound so nonchalant, like she dreamt about him all of the time… which she did.

Daniel apparently took it the way Betty _didn't _want him to take it. Being Daniel, of course, he wouldn't think of it any other way. "Uh…"

Betty let out an equally embarrassed and nervous laugh. "Not _that _kind of dream, Daniel. It was a nightmare. Don't get excited."

_Starting out a conversation with "I had a dream about you" should make you expect me to be excited. _"Too late," Daniel muttered looking down into Betty's eyes, watching them dart around the room nervously. "What happened?"

She didn't prepare herself for Daniel to ask that question. "Well… it happened just like this, but you already were… killed."

"Oh… that's comforting," he said, his evident sarcasm making Betty crack a smile, the light glimmering off of her braces making her look as radiant as ever even in the dim lighting. He coughed, hoping that she didn't notice him staring at her for so long. "You should call your family and tell them you're okay."

"Yeah, you're right." Betty easily found the light with the help of her flashlight and dialed the number.

"Betty! We were all so worried about you!" Hilda screamed into the phone. "Guys, it's Betty, she's okay!" She called to Ignacio and Justin.

"Yeah, Hilda," she said as she looked at Daniel who was smiling at her. "We're fine."

"We? Who's we?"

"Me and Daniel… we were working late so obviously he'd be here too…"

"Ooh!" Hilda squealed with glee. "You and Daniel all alone in the office with the power out!That is soromantic!" She said, her voice growing louder with every word.

"Hilda!" She hissed, completely mortified. Betty loved her sister and everything, but sometimes Hilda could be way too loud. Especially when the object her affection was standing right next to her, and there was no way that he could have missed that.

"Oh, he's standing right there, isn't he? Sorry," she told Hilda sincerely. "Well, come home soon! We love you, Betty."

"Love you too. Bye." Betty hung up the phone. That was the second time Hilda had done something like that that night! Betty shook her head hoping that Daniel had again hadn't heard a word that Hilda said. Betty nodded at Daniel, letting him know that she was ready for whatever was next.

Daniel _had _heard what Hilda had said. It wasn't hard to miss this time around. He _almost _snickered, but instead he had a different idea. Well, he had more than one idea…

Daniel rolled his eyes at his downstairs thoughts and unconsciously held out his hand to lead her over to the window where the rain was pouring down. She immediately started to protest, waving the flashlight around to blind him. "Daniel. The window?"

"Betty if you're ever going to get over your fear, you have to face it. And you're going to be fine. I'm not going to let anything happen to you. After all it's just a thunderstorm, right?"

Betty took a deep breath and let it out before smiling up at her knight in shining Armani. Sometimes she didn't know what she'd do without him. "Right, it's just a thunderstorm."

Daniel nodded and led her over to the lighting lit window, before another rumble came that seemed to shake all of Mode. Betty's hand grabbed tighter onto Daniel's and he looked out the window as the pouring rain glided down the window pane.

Betty watched in awe at how peaceful he looked. It was beautiful. _He _was beautiful. She followed his gaze outside to the pouring rain and occasional lightning flashes. The thunder came, but she wasn't as scared this time. Sure it was frightening and unexpected, but it _was _just a storm.

"When I was younger, I used to be afraid of thunderstorms too," Daniel confessed. "I'd sit by my window whenever there was a storm and eventually I got used to it so much that the thunder and lightning and rain were… nice. It was soothing," his voice grew softer at the final syllable, and he glanced down at Betty again.

"Thanks, Daniel," she whispered smiling again, looking up into his eyes.

There was an undeniable force that he felt towards her in that moment and he thought she could feel it too. He felt his heart race as he raised his hand up to her face and brushed his fingers across her cheek. He felt her skin tingle from underneath his fingertips. "Are you alright, Betty?" No, this wasn't awkward at all. This felt... right.

Betty's breath got caught in her throat and she slowly wrapped her hand around his wrist keeping his hand on her cheek and nodded. "Yeah, Daniel. I'm fine." And that was the truth. She felt perfectly fine just how they were.

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**Please tell me what you think!**


	4. Chapter 4

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_Power Outage: Chapter 4_

_I really am so sorry for not updating!! I had writer's block because of the end of last chapter. Thank you to everyone who reviewed, alerted, and favorited this story! I felt so bad whenever I got a favorite or an alert for this fic! But I finally had time to force myself to get over this stupid writer's block. I feel really bad still lol! This is really short, but I hope you all will still like this chapter!_

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The night was slowly starting to fade, and power was turning back on in various places up and down the block… but not at Mode. The only lights they had were from other buildings and streets likes that were coming back on.

Daniel sat on the floor in the corner, carefully resting against the wall holding Betty is his arms. The storm was slowly beginning to pass with an occasional light rumble of thunder and a rare flicker of lighting. Every now and then, Betty would stir, almost waking up. To keep her calm, Daniel would gently stroke her soft hair and whisper quietly into her ear. Betty calmed down immediately, his voice bringing a smile to her lips.

Daniel smiled in return although she couldn't see. It had something to do with the fact that he was tired. He wasn't too worried about what would happen whenever the lights would come on. They hadn't completely crossed the boundary between friendship and romance, which was a good thing at the moment. He had always known that he felt an attraction towards her; he just never knew it was so strong. He was absolutely sure that he had fallen for her. It was amazing that a night in the dark with your object of desire can make you realize.

It was the kind of feeling where you can't help but wonder whether that person is thinking the same thing about you. Not like infatuation. Deeper than that. Not lust. More meaningful. Love.

Betty shifted slightly, unconsciously moving her hand from her lap over to where Daniel's hand was laying on her arm, squeezing it gently. Daniel blinked in surprised. He was stunned by her comatose forwardness. He stroked her hair again, carefully. He delicately pushed her hair back away from her face, and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead.

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Betty's hand dropped from Daniel's hand as she started to blink, her eyelashes fluttering. Was that a dream that she had just had or did Daniel really just kiss her? _Hilda would have a field day with that one._ Betty sat up, remembering that she was sitting on Daniel's lap; her face flushed a light shade of red.

"Daniel…" she whispered softly, feeling his soft eyes on her face when she turned on his leg to meet his eyes. "How long have I been asleep?"

"About forty-five minutes," his tired sounding voice replied.

Betty stared in response. "Why didn't you sleep?"

Daniel shrugged, averting his eyes from hers, and then looking back into them. "I wanted to make sure that you were okay."

Betty moved her hand to his arm, thanking him without saying a word. Daniel blinked and nodded with a smile. Betty still gazed into his eyes, thinking about how wonderful he was for doing that. _Amazing._

Daniel brought his hand to Betty's face, slowly and carefully tracing her jawbone, looking her in the eyes. Betty was startled by this movement at first, but soon she felt at ease under his touch. Before she knew it, Daniel captured her lips with his in a soft, slow, romantic, but electrifying kiss that sent jolts of passion through her entire body. It took a moment to get over the shock before finally reciprocating the kiss slowly and tenderly. Daniel's arm slipped around Betty's waist pulling her closer to him, and Betty's arm slipped around his neck, her fingers running through his hair.

And then the lights came on.

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_So I hope that was chapter was good! Next chapter should be the last chapter, and if you have any ideas for the last review, leave them in the review! Please review! _


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